Archive for May, 2019
What was the population of America before it was ‘discovered’ by Europeans?
May 9th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
I am currently reading “A Little History Of The United States” by James West Davidson. At my age, I prefer to read short books so that there is a reasonable chance that I’ll finish them. Davidson explains that, when in 1492, Christopher Columbus ‘discovered’ America, around 8 million Indians lived in North America. At the […]
Posted in History | Comments (3)
Should the Labour Party support the idea of a universal basic income?
May 8th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
“A Labour-backed report has called for the launch of universal basic income trials across the UK. Universal basic income (UBI), which takes the form of regular cash payments from the government to all adult citizens, has emerged as a popular concept in recent years because it could top up low pay and reduce inequality. A feasibility […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
The night that the United States bombed a Chinese embassy
May 7th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
Twenty years ago today, on 7 May 1999, during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia (Operation Allied Force), five US Joint Direct Attack Munition guided bombs hit the People’s Republic of China embassy in the Belgrade district of New Belgrade, killing three Chinese reporters and outraging the Chinese public. According to the U.S. government, the intention had been to bomb the nearby Yugoslav Federal Directorate for […]
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Humans threaten one million animal and plant species with extinction
May 6th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
Three years in the making, a global assessment of nature draws on 15,000 reference materials, and has been compiled by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). It runs to 1,800 pages. The brief, 40-page “summary for policymakers”, published today at a meeting in Paris, is perhaps the most powerful indictment of […]
Posted in Environment | Comments (0)
A review of the new movie blockbuster “Avengers: Endgame”
May 5th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
I can remember a time (1990) when “Die Hard 2” could shock audiences by featuring the death of 230 passengers and crew on an aircraft which crashes thanks to terrorists taking over the air traffic control system. But the Marvel movies have taken death tolls to a whole new level. In “Guardians Of The Galaxy”, […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
How do you spend a penny?
May 3rd, 2019 by Roger Darlington
Older (British) readers of NightHawk will remember that using a public toilet used to cost one (old) penny – hence the expression “to spend a penny” when using the toilet. More recently, using a toilet on a railway station could cost you up to 50 (current) pence, but now all toilets on London stations at […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
How can we make sense of Israeli politics?
May 1st, 2019 by Roger Darlington
Israeli is the only country in the Middle East which, despite criticisms of its treatment of Aran citizens, operates a democratic political system, so it is surprising that the world’s media gives so little attention to its political system and its politics. Three weeks ago, Israel held a general election in which the two main […]
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